Benoît Paire ejected from the Top 300 but qualifies for the main draw at Matsuyama

Benoît Paire, 35 and formerly ranked 18th in the world, dropped out of the Top 300 of the ATP rankings on Monday. This is the first time this has happened to him since March 21, 2010, almost 15 years ago.

The Frenchman is paying for his catastrophic results this season, with just 9 wins, all of them in the first or second round, out of 38 matches played.

But Paire responded in the best possible way. Competing at the Challenger 75 in Matsuyama (Japan), he won both his qualifying matches to book his place in the main draw.

The now 304th-ranked player in the world will face Australian James McCabe, also a qualifier and ranked 265th in the world, in the first round. The match is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. (Japanese time) on Tuesday.